This is how he describes heaven: For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day, and sent them into his vineyard.
Okay, so it's early in the morning - let's say sunrise, 6am and he agrees to pay this group of people one denarius to work in his vineyard for today. In those days, one denarius was considered a fair day's pay, so he's being fair.
He says: at about nine in the morning, he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing; and he said: you also go work in my vineyard, and I'll pay you whatever's right.
So they went out; and he went out again at noon; and about three in the afternoon; and did the same thing at about five in the afternoon. He went out, and still found others standing around, and he asked them: why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?
Because no one has hired us they answered; and he said to them: you also go work in my vineyard - so are you following the story? 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 5pm he is hiring people.
The first people he said: I'll give you a denarius; then as he hired more people, he doesn't tell them what their pay is. He just says: I'll pay you whatever's right; and so the assumption is that: if a denarius is a whole day's pay, then there would be a sliding scale alright. Watch what happens.
When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foremen: call the workers and pay them their wages - beginning with the last ones hired, and going on to the first.
Hang on, if you were the first one hired, how do you feel about that? He's paying the people who only worked an hour, before he pays you. You would hate that right? I mean, can I get an amen on that, like we're all in the same boat there, alright? But then you'd rationalise it, and you'd say: well that makes sense, because he's going to pay them less, so it's easier to work out their pay - because he's going to pay them less.
Watch what happens - and the workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came, and each one received a denarius. Whoa! Wait a minute! A denarius is what the people who agreed to work all day are going to be paid right, so if you'd worked from six in the morning until night, and you saw someone who only worked an hour get paid a denarius, what is your assumption? You're assumption is: you're going to get more. Well, if they got a denarius, and I worked 12 times more, there must be 12 denarius coming my way right? Watch, it doesn't work that way. Watch what happens.
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more, but each one of them also received a denarius. Whoa! Oh - and when they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner - as you do.
These who were hired last, worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us. You have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden, and the work of the heat of the day.
So in this story, followers of the landowner are angry with the landowner, because he pays people who do less work the same wages he paid them - ooh! And I knew I wasn't okay with this.
I was just like these people, like I feel like I've worked hard for God, travelled 170,000 miles last year, spoke in 13 countries. Last year they had to do surgery on my legs, because the blood was pooling in my feet, because I was sitting in economy class too much without proper hosing, so the blood - my feet were turning colors. They had to do a $12,000 surgery on my feet, in order to reroute the blood in my feet, to get back up to my heart properly - and you taught Sunday School, ooh!
Oh, you work in the parking lot - ooh! You come to church twice a month, ooh! And I realised that there was something in me that really believed that I deserved more of heaven than you - because I was working harder than you. That is a horrifically dark spot that I knew I had to deal with. I knew that I was the same as these guys. How about you?